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Oh how I miss the convenience of DCL….I had to fire up the bbq today in order to get my bacon breakfast “fix”.

Seeing as Donna faced the prospect of a 4 hour drive back to Miami later we all decided to visit Celebration which would be a new experience for her.
This was the first time that my DW and I have been there on a Sunday morning so we were all pleasantly surprised to see that they had closed off Market Street for guess what?....a street market!!
After finding a parking spot nearby we walked over to the market. There were loads of stalls selling all sorts of items, even a “British” stall offering steak and kidney pies and pasties, and before long my DW got into shopping mode!
We [she] bought a lovely artificial floral decoration for our villa, some pasta, fresh bread, candles, a couple of presents for our friend’s children and some delicious fresh bread.
She almost got carried away at a stall where a very persuasive guy was offering some organic skin treatments…until she [I] saw the cost of the merchandise! :shocked025:
My DW and Donna ended up with so many carrier bags, that I had to make a return journey to the car to load them into the trunk to save the hassle of them [me] carrying them around!

Feeling not hungry, but a bit peckish, we went to a small café called Sherlocks near to the Celebration hotel where we opted for an outside table for a sandwich and coffee. When the waitress came over I asked her where she was from as she hadn`t got an American accent and we were all surprised when she said that she originated from Stoke-on-Trent, our home town here in the UK…small world eh?
Apparently she was only 18 months old when her parents moved to the States and I guess that they didn`t lose their English accent so it kind of rubbed off on her.

All too soon it was time to return to the villa so that Donna could jump into her car and start the long drive home. As we were leaving Celebration though I made an impromptu stop to take a quick photograph of a huge
pumpkin sale, set up in readiness for Halloween.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around the pool before we went again to Key W Kools for dinner, which again was an excellent meal at a venue not too far away from our villa.
On returning “home”, my DW wanted an early night but I stayed up for a while watching an Eric Clapton dvd that Ricardo and his DW had given to me when we met the other week, and as such it was way past midnight before I turned in…or “After Midnight” according to one of Eric`s songs!

Day 18~ Monday October 6th

Shortly after breakfast we had a phone call from Ray [our property manager] who wanted to sort out a dinner meet with us, this being a regular feature of our trips to Orlando. We mutually agreed that Friday would be a good date for us both so he said that they would make a reservation for a restaurant that he and his wife regularly use [Seasons 52], giving me directions of how to get there, and a time of 7.30pm was pencilled in.

My DW and I then went to the only un-visited Disney park on this trip, Epcot, where the Food and Wine Festival had recently opened.
First off was a dash over to The Land in order to get a fastpass for Soarin` which is a ride that we both enjoy and is as close to daring can be as far as my DW is concerned.
While waiting for our ride time for Soarin` we headed over to Innovations to check out the new attraction there [who`s name escapes me], but it was based upon the effects of a hurricane….a much tamer version of Twister at US. As they only let around 30 folks in at a time it meant a wait of around 30 minutes before we were allowed in, however a CM at the entrance kept us all amused by cracking a few jokes which helped the time pass by.
From here we “Soared” over here there and everywhere, before we started our customary “lap of the lake” to take in World Showcase.

As it was the F & W Festival, apart from the regular 11 countries dotted around the central lake, there were loads of offerings from other countries of the World each of whom were offering indigenous snacks and drinks. Some of these were very tasty although you could easily end up spending a lot of money if you sampled too many of them which were around $7 for a [very small] portion. :shocked025:
As I suddenly had a fish and chips craving [probably caused by the smell of the “chippy” :p015:], dear old Harry Ramsden came to my rescue with his fayre at the UK pavilion where we sat on a table outside the Rose and Crown as all of the other tables in the main outdoor dining area were occupied.
My DW settled for grazing on a few offerings from the other "new" country`s stalls that we passed by.

By now dark clouds were looming so we decided to head back to the villa to avoid getting soaked. En-route to the exit though I noticed that the single rider line for Test Track was only showing a 10 minute wait time, so a small detour there enabled me to satisfy my need for a bit of excitement. After the ride I wandered around the display of cars before the exit and we made it back to our car just in time before it started to pour with rain.
As we were turning left at the lights on US192, turning into Old Lake Wilson my DW said “Hey there`s Ricky!”
He was waiting for the lights to change so that he could drive along US192 obviously on his way to work at the YSH and you could hardly miss his vehicle as it is emblazoned with decals and “Flower power” lettering in all colours of the rainbow! :p015:

Dinner tonight was at Charley`s Steakhouse on US192, one of my favourite off site restaurants where a good steak is guaranteed, and although we hadn`t made a reservation, we were seated after only a 5 minute wait
We declined the pre dinner “show”, where the server brings a large metal plate to your table and goes through all of the various steaks on offer, because my DW had already chosen a fish dish from the menu and I had already made my mind up to go for a juicy fillet steak, thus saving any effort on behalf of the server.
As usual we had a great meal, returning back to our villa at around 10.00pm ready for a good night`s sleep.

I'm fasting in prep for medical tests and these food reports are making me hungry.

Terry always manages a good description of the food but then we know Terry likes his food don't we John

Hope everything goes OK with the tests

If ever there is a tomorrow when we're not together.......
there is something you must always remember.
You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
But the most important thing is, even if we're apart...... I'll always be with you.
Winne the Pooh - A A Milne

A friend is a hand that is always holding yours,
no matter how close or far apart you may be.
A friend is someone who is always there and will always, always care.
A friend is a feeling of forever in the heart.